"We travel, we travel, we travel. Whether that place is in Cleveland or Akron, I don't think horsemen have a preference one way or the other." - Tim H

NORTH RANDALL -- Casino-style gambling is coming to the Thistledown thoroughbred track early next month, but how long it stays remains in question.

Ohio's second "racino" will premiere Tuesday, April 9, with more than 1,100 video lottery terminals -- devices that look and function like slot machines. By next year, all seven of the state's tracks are expected to have VLTs.

The $88 million racino is a boost for North Randall, a half-square-mile village anchored by the track and a mostly vacant shopping mall. It's also the buzz among horse owners and trainers, who welcome casino gaming as an infusion of cash for the state's struggling equine industry.

Yet Thistledown's future is uncertain: Gov. John Kasich has given the owner, Rock Ohio Caesars, the option of moving to the Akron-Canton area. That would shift the track away from Rock's Horseshoe Casino in downtown Cleveland and nearby Northfield Park, which hopes to open a racino of its own by December.

A majority of the money invested in Thistledown went for the lottery terminals and other equipment that can be moved. The company could apply the expenditure to the $150 million the state requires for racino improvements. Under state law, Rock must decide no later than June 2014 whether the track stays or moves.

The Horseshoe and Thistledown can share turf, said Marcus Glover, a Cleveland-based vice president for Caesars Entertainment, the Las Vegas company that runs both properties. Appearing last week before the Ohio Lottery Commission, the agency that regulates VLTs, he said the two venues will offer gamblers different attractions and promote each other via Caesars' Total Rewards loyalty program.

"We will position these properties more to be complementary than to cannibalize each other," Glover said in response to a question. "That will help big time."

The Lottery Commission did not ask how Thistledown would be affected by the project Northfield Park is undertaking with Hard Rock International about six miles to the south. Plans call for 2,300 to 2,500 video lottery terminals, a Hard Rock Cafe, a concert hall and maybe someday a hotel.

Nor did commission members press Glover on relocation. Glover acknowledged later in an interview that moving remains a possibility, but he declined to comment on the chances.

The agreement with Kasich permits moving within a 12-mile radius of a point in the city of Green. Though voters in Green barred the development, the target area extends into other communities.

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols has said that the governor won't force a move but wants Ohio's four casinos and seven racinos spread out in a way that maximizes taxes paid to the state.

Some may wonder why Rock Ohio would want to bolt North Randall. Wouldn't that leave Northfield owner Brock Milstein and minority partner Hard Rock alone to take a bite out of the Horseshoe's business?

It might be more a case of heading for greener pastures, said Paul Girvan, managing director of the Innovation Group. The gaming consultants have offices across the United States and are familiar with the Ohio market.

Girvan doesn't think casino and racino traffic will overlap as much as one might assume, with some customers intent on steering clear of downtown.

He added that the slots market skews middle-aged and female, while casinos tend to attract a slightly younger crowd which is partial to an environment that includes table games. The Horseshoe's table games have produced what experts say is a high percentage of revenue for a casino -- nearing 40 percent of the total -- and aren't allowed at Ohio tracks.

Girvan said Thistledown and Northfield Park could co-exist and that Thistledown might even gross more in the Cleveland area than in Akron-Canton. But he said the competition also might force the racino to spend more on marketing, cutting into profits.

"I would take a serious look at moving to the Akron-Canton area," Girvan said.

Mark Nichols studies the gaming industry as an economics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. He said moving would help Rock Ohio establish an outpost from which the company could promote its casino in Cleveland.

"It's probably not a bad strategy," he said.

North Randall Mayor David Smith was reached twice for comment and both times said he was too busy to talk. Council President Woodrow Marcus said he is focusing on the more than 650 jobs being added at Thistledown, bringing the total to 850 to 900, and the possibility of spin-off development.

"If they weren't going to stay, I don't think they'd invest this kind of money," Marcus said. "But I'm not on the inside of those types of conversations."

Horse trainers are also upbeat, fueling the heaviest demand for stall rental that the track has seen in years, said Rick Skinner, Thistledown's general manager.

Ohio horse owners and trainers campaigned a long time for racinos, arguing that casino-style gambling would help the state's four harness tracks and three thoroughbred tracks compete with similar facilities in other states. Out-of-state racinos have used slots money to increase purses, attract top horses and complete race cards that Ohio tracks have labored to fill.

Scioto Downs, a harness track in Columbus, opened VLT play last June and attendance grew. Top finishers shared an average purse of $7,046, the highest in the state, and wagering on live racing increased 45 percent, to $4.5 million.

Thistledown's purses are not set for this racing season, which begins Friday, April 19. Skinner said the track is negotiating with a statewide group representing the thoroughbred industry to determine how much VLT money will be earmarked for purses.

Tim Hamm, who trains thoroughbreds at his farm west of Youngstown, likes Thistledown's track surface, which he and others consider one of the best in the country for traction and drainage. But Hamm said he doesn't think the track's location will make a big difference to trainers.

"Half a dozen of one, six of the other," he said. "We travel, we travel, we travel. Whether that place is in Cleveland or Akron, I don't think horsemen have a preference one way or the other."

What Hamm and others don't want is for the racing side of the operation to get lost in the rush to attract slots enthusiasts.

The Ohio State Racing Commission, which licenses racetracks, recently expressed similar concerns about tracks that Penn National Gaming wants to move so the future racinos will be farther from the company's stand-alone casinos in Toledo and Columbus. A harness track in Toledo will head south to Dayton and a thoroughbred track in Columbus will jump to the Youngstown area.

The commission has held up the plans, saying Penn National offered only a fraction of the necessary seating and failed to include suitable clubhouse or dining space. Commission Chairman Robert Schmitz said in an interview that the smaller numbers of seats could lead to crowding and discourage people from going.

Thistledown doesn't have to add seats, but trainer Rich Zielinski still worries about getting short shrift. He sounds cautiously optimistic, saying Rock "appears to be trying to help our side of it, too."

"The whole idea of slots coming to the racetracks, it was all put in front of the governor as a way to save a dying industry," said Zielinski, who also runs a tack and feed business at Thistledown. "We don't want to be perceived as a necessary evil."

Thistledown has rearranged its race calendar, staying at 122 days but running races on Sundays and holidays to coincide with peaks in slots play. Zielinski said Thistledown took those days off from live racing in the past because other U.S. tracks put higher quality races on their simulcast feeds.

Rock Ohio is giving racing fans a new steakhouse and repainted some areas at Thistledown. Glover promised not to forget the thoroughbreds.

"We're committed to both sides of the business," he said. "We're a racing facility that has VLTs. We'll support both."

Northeast Ohio casino/racino markets

A key market area for a racino is generally considered to be 25 miles

and 50 miles for a full casino such as the Horseshoe Cleveland. If

Thistledown is relocated southward, it would go to a smaller market but much overlap with Horsehoe and Northfield markets would be eliminated.

Northfield Park - 2.3 million people within 25 miles
Thistledown - 2.2 million people within 25 miles
Thistledown (possible new location) - 1.2 million people within 25 miles
Horseshoe Cleveland - 3.4 million people within 50 miles

Note: The exact location of a new Thistledown is undetermined, but any move must be within 12 miles of the new location shown on this map.

Source: Plain Dealer analysis of 2010 census data.

By clicking the buttons next to the location names above, you can select a single key market area. You can click the circles on the map to see their names. User tips: For best results, wait for page to load completely. Map will pause while data layers rebuild

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